Pokémon Trial
by Leopardmoon
Summary: 37 years ago, Team Liberator sought to 'free' Pokémon only to keep them for themselves as powerful tools. They succeeded in Sinnoh where their predecessors, Team Plasma, had failed through the invention of the Offense Ball - forcing cooperation from any Pokémon captured. Jordenn Preen seeks revenge. With Palkia's help, will she succeed or suffer her parents' fate - death?


**Pokémon Trial**

_(Meow, this is Leopardmoon and I cordially greet you at the start of a brand new story. It's time for a new adventure, a new heroine, a new villain, and so much more. It's time for a change. This is not the Sinnoh you remember, not anymore._

_**This fanfic is purely for entertainment purposes and I do not claim – whatsoever – the rights to Pokémon or any other game/book/music/fiction related stuff I mention. The only things that belong to me are the plot and every original character that I make up.**_

_**Revised – slightly.**_)

"People say a legend is born. People say a hero is made. But what is a legend and what is a hero? I'd say someone who faces the trials and comes out a better person because of them. I'd say someone who is no better than another except for his or her own courage and faith. I'd say someone who makes the right choices for others in the name of change. I'd say the one who even a villain respects. Oh, and they have regrets. Their story carries on from there."

**Chapter I: Hopeless**

It was difficult to ignore the softly relayed rumors circulating through town. They were rebellious words whispered on the breath of the wind; murmurs of fear really having lost hope's soothing touch. The girl knew that people talked especially the old and the young as they had little else to do these days. Gossip thrived among her brethren – a trio of annoying pale headed sisters who saw their older raven haired sister as a freak – and that was how she often picked up who was dating whom and, more importantly, news on the rebellion.

Oh yes, _the rebellion_! Fresh shivers of nervous excitement sent stark goose bumps trailing across her skin. She had not been anticipating the invitation, but it was altogether not surprising considering she was her father's daughter – a daddy's girl – in both image and personality. They had the same curly onyx hair, bright-with-curiosity emerald eyes, proud stature, and a hint of a smirk tugging at their faintly mischievous pink lips. Only her wide-eyed doe stare came from her mother. At least, that was what her grandfather and grandmother on her father's side said. Jordenn didn't remember her father, or her mother, very much and there weren't many pictures to look at either. Not since they had been _taken._

Once upon a time, Pokémon made the world: Arceus (the Creator), Palkia (Space), Dialga (Time), Giratina (Antimatter), and the Lake Guardians – Azelf, Uxie, and Mespirt (Spirit). In Sinnoh, there had been Pokémon trainers, breeders, and coordinators. Oh, and the occasional ranger. Supposedly, everyone had a Pokémon, even from the tender age of three. However, no one could start their "journey" or "adventure" as a trainer or coordinator until they were ten years old. That was how legends started, and heroes were made. But that was also a good **thirty-seven** years ago.

Since then, everything had changed with the appearance of '**Team Liberator,**' a supposed off-shoot of Team Plasma from the Unova region that came to Sinnoh in a rescue attempt (and as a escape route). Their goal was simple – 'liberate,' or more specifically, **take** all the Pokémon from everyone else to give to themselves and rule over all of Sinnoh. (Insert evil laughter here.) They were radically successful thanks to the invention of the 'Offense Ball' which forced cooperation from caught Pokémon - earning no resistance from wild Pokémon during a capture attempt and actually _stealing_ already caught Pokémon from another trainer (even ranger-influenced ones). No Pokémon, not even the most loving gym leader's testing Pokémon, or the loyal hero's brave partner Pokémon, could resist. The villains were winning and the good guys refused to use such 'dirty methods.'

Finally, reluctantly, the good people of Sinnoh (and outside help) gave in and attempted to use the new Offense Ball, but it was too late by then. In one short year, thirty-seven years ago, Team Liberator, headed by an evil duo and Liberator Grunts, had taken the whole system down. They continued to ruthlessly hunt down any Pokémon they might have missed and supposed 'Pokémon Loyalists' who were too dangerous to let live. Jordenn's parents were targeted as such, and so, they took them away for _questioning and purification_ when she was only three and her triplet sisters one year old_._ As if anyone would believe that was all! Her parents had been secret breeders, true loyalists with hope on their sleeves despite the leering white-and-black diamond motifs that said differently displayed everywhere to remind the people of Sinnoh exactly _who was in charge._

The government consisted of Team Liberator's Chiefs - the duo known as Tai and Talia (brother and sister) - at the head with Liberator Officers managing smaller sections of Sinnoh, different types of researchers and scientists below them, and lastly the Liberator Grunts doing the dirty work. Everyone else who was not part of Team Liberator was trash. It was surprising how many traitors had gone to work for them as researchers, scientists, nurses, breeders, coordinators, or trainers – some because of their perverse methods of 'research' and others out of blind love to be with their Pokémon again even if it meant becoming one of the bad guys.

Her grandparents on her mother's side had also been taken, but at the beginning of what was known as the 'Liberation' having been gym leaders – Gardenia of Eterna City's Gym, and Aaron of the Elite Four. Her mother was only six years old, yet she had not broken down by accepting fate and knowing that retribution had to follow. At least, her mother had been _able_ to remember her parents (Jordenn's grandparents) while all _her daughter_ knew was that her sisters resembled her and that she had her big, wide eyes. All her sisters and herself had left were their father's grandparents who were bakers and took them in with kindness and absolute generosity. They may have been well into their mid-fifties, but they knew exactly what they were doing and they had poured all their love and energy into raising them alongside the rising dough.

A bitter kind of sweet taste filled the teenager's mouth as she continued to constantly peer over her shoulder to make sure someone suspicious, or a Liberator Grunt, wasn't watching. She collected her thoughts as she resumed her powerful stride forward past her neighbor's stately home and towards the beckoning cave etchings. Daily as a child, the green-eyed girl had examined the etchings and ran her fingers roughly across the walls of the cavern attempting to understand the figures that lay there. She never had seen a Pokémon before besides the viciously bred and raised Lickitungs the patrolling Liberator Grunts used. Once, Jordenn had thought she had seen a something with white wings that could not be a common bird fly over the mountains. That couldn't be a wild Pokémon though, right?

Jordenn approached the cave warily, keeping an eye out for traps that the Liberators might have set out to catch the unwary. The Celestic townspeople still wondered why the Liberators had failed to tear down the cavern, or block it with rocks, to prevent the myths and Pokémon displayed there to be seen by the entirety of people who were either of or just passing through Celestic town, especially the Resistance. Wouldn't it just give them the will to fight on, and something of a mythical education regarding Pokémon? If Pokémon really had created the world, who were they to put them under their thumb? Etc., etc. Some liked to believe that it was because the cave was actually magically protected by legendary Pokémon. However, no one had ever seen any signs of legendary Pokémon so it was commonly disputed.

The truth was that the Resistance and the rebellion were in trouble. With each generation, as the years passed by, more and more of the people of Sinnoh either forgot or never came to care about Pokémon. It was like they had always been the tools of Team Liberator. Jordenn had been born under their rule ever since she was merely a thought on her mother's mind, she had suffered greatly because of them, and even then it was difficult to remember. Why? She'd barely seen a Pokémon. She didn't know what they could or could not do. Maybe they really were all vicious animals, common just like the ones they ate for dinner on the kitchen table, or treated better by the Liberators. Maybe, maybe not. All of the factors came into consideration and she had her doubts. Jordenn had realized by now that she would still fight though, because her parents would have wanted her too. They were gone and it was linked to Team Liberator.

The rebellion would give her the payback they deserved…if only it could get off its butt from where it had fallen in the dirt, and find a way to stop the villainous team's vicious Pokémon when they had no Pokémon themselves. They couldn't get outside help, and Legendaries came and went as they pleased. Manufactured weapons were out of the question to use against the innocent creatures and the myths suggested that they would bring only more trouble. Too bad Offense Balls were so hard to come by…sigh.

Jordenn, with one last furtive glance over her shoulder, darted inside the cave's inviting maw and let the cool darkness envelop her. The rock walls closed in as she slipped further inside its belly with her eyes focused ahead on where she knew the etching would be. Sure enough, there it was. It took only a short amount of time for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, thankfully. The girl leaned forward as she had stopped a few feet away from the ancient drawing, although it made no difference if she touched it or not as it had lasted through all these years and would remain for many more.

One slender finger trembled as it reached forward in hesitation, before being pulled back to tug anxiously at the high collar of her green sleeveless turtleneck that matched the irises of her eyes. Had she just imagined it, or had the etching…_trembled_? Maybe she should have brought a jacket, and worn jeans, instead of her favorite pair of denim shorts (leaving them well-worn). Unfortunately, it was too late for that, and the cold had to be getting to her mind. She dismissed the idea of an etching shaking immediately, and laughed hollowly before swallowing on a dry throat. _This was insane!_ All of it – joining the rebellion as a Resistance Member, fighting against the Liberators without any sort of weapon, and just going through the motions at school.

Rage was what fueled her – but what if she ran out of it? Then she would just be an empty puppet hanging on that lonely string. Blank, faceless, easily controlled.

Sniffling, Jordenn unconsciously wiped her nose before remembering there were no sleeves on her top. Just what she needed, right? "Argh!" she cried, letting her voice fill the cave's empty space. The fifteen year old paled noticeably as the trembling resumed, this time in greater magnitude, and that her escape route had been mysteriously blocked by a shimmering wall of _rock. _What the hell?!

With increasing horror and morbid fascination, she watched as the wall of the cave where the etching had been carved began to ripple and leak what could only be described as crimson-red blood. Jordenn tried to move but found herself stuck fast in place as the blood sluggishly spread across the rock floor. "Help, please…help me! Anyone there?! I need help! Pl…plea-se…" Her high-pitched voice focused itself into a pleading whine and then an alarmed primal scream that ripped itself from her inner being. No one was going to help her, and there was a goddamn _claw _forcing its way through the wall.

"It's all a hallucination…maybe had too much candy or something," Jordenn deadpanned as her brain searched for an answer. Space itself seemed to be distorting, twisting and churning as the cave grew wider and larger in an attempt to accommodate the thing that was sliding out of the wall! "Oh god," she gasped as Space was given one last vicious push before settling neatly into a new position that was half of one dimension and half of another as suggested by the floating pearls that sprang from the blood. The girl was speechless with shock and at once resumed her age-old habit of biting her nails when she was too stressed or scared to do much of anything else.

Ancient blood-red eyes swerved from one entirely too energetic, bobbing pearl to stare at the pathetic looking child who grinded her nails with increasing urgency at the intense stare of the legendary creature. Needless to say, Palkia was stumped. He had been called on by his master and 'mother,' Arceus, alongside his 'siblings,' Dialga and Giratina, to go to the Human world and choose worthy partners to rescue Sinnoh and its captive Pokémon from their technological instrument of torture – the Offense Balls. They were to be destroyed immediately, ASAP, and without delay.

Of course, there were rules to follow. Palkia wasn't too keen on rules, as he himself never had to follow the rules of Space and Time. He was above such things, although his dear 'sister,' Dialga, constantly argued with him on exactly what he could and could not do. She was such a nag. Giratina at least, although brooding and more aggressive (which was saying something) than his siblings, left him mostly alone to do what he wished. If Palkia was human, or at least a domesticated Pokémon, he would have called his brother an 'emo.' That particular word was not in the ancient dragon-type's vocabulary however.

On the contrary, 'newb' was a recent addition to his vocabulary as a listed insult. This tiny little morsel had to be a newb, not anything worthy of being a partner. Snorting derisively, the huge Legendary loomed over the female with the long mop of curly black hair as his light purple edged tail lazily twisted against the rock floor. _"You, mouse creature!"_ he began speaking in what he thought was an impressive voice, _"I am the great Palkia, Creator of Space! I have sensed someone here worthy of being my partner…where is he of the green eyes?"_

Palkia seemed to have forgotten that humans didn't speak Pokémon, albeit temporarily, and as such it sounded to Jordenn something like this, "RAAAAAWRRRR! Palkia, ROAK-RAAW-ROKKARAAAAA! MMAAAAARRROOOOO." Rough translation of course. The ground was shaking as if in an earthquake, and Jordenn went down. Wincing, she rubbed her aching ears before finding new confidence within herself and glaring at the light purple and white roaring thing that stood so tall above her. By now, Palkia had realized his mistake and was reformatting his sentences to be telepathically communicated.

He repeated his words hopefully, sending alongside the sentences a mental image of the sparkling emerald eyes that had to belong to his partner, watching as the girl suddenly began grinning like a madwoman. What was _she_ laughing at? Palkia had to be having an off-day not to match Jordenn's eyes with the image that he had just sent. "Oh, so you're Palkia! Funny, thought the Legendary Pokémon that could warp space would be a bit…I don't know…less girly. You're purple! Heehee. Anyway, I'm the only one that's here and if you'll kindly notice that I have green eyes, eh. Need I say more?"

…Palkia was not in a good mood today. Palkia was having an off-day. If Palkia was a girl and not a Pokémon, he'd probably be PMS-ing. Lovely thoughts, non?

"_Impossible!"_ he roared with a final challenge, clawing the ground as space began to alarmingly twist around Jordenn. Fear had lost its grip on the teenager by now, and only humor dared to swim inside those emerald pools even as she faced down an enraged Legendary. Before today, Jordenn had never _seen_ a Pokémon except a Lickitung and illustrations in illegal books. Now here she was talking to a Legendary who helped create the world and was it true that he wanted a partner to, she was just spitting ideas out here, save Sinnoh? At the rate things were going, she wouldn't be surprised if the end of the world was approaching.

Lazily, as she was still sitting on the floor from where she had fallen down, the fifteen year old leaned back and stretched with a soft yawn. "You bore me," she declared. "You're nothing but an overstuffed relic." Palkia fumed, feeling his rage unconsciously manipulate space. _"Overstuffed relic – why, I'll stuff you!"_ Jordenn snickered, and then changed it into a surprisingly Dialga-like cackle. Unnerving it was to have a human girl produce a noise that he associated with the Pokémon Creator of Space. "Admit it, you need me!"

Palkia had to give the girl that – she was right, and furthermore, she had the guts to tell him it and laugh at him, ignore him, and insult him. No one did that and survived…except for a certain Legendary. Grudgingly, the dragon accepted the fact that she was going to be his partner until this damned mission was over. _"Your name, oh horrid human?"_ Jordenn rose gracefully like a princess in front of an incredibly giant knight, tilting her head upwards so that she could at least see the sweeping curve of his powerful long neck. "Jordenn Preen, oh fat reptile," she replied in similar fashion.

The aforementioned 'fat reptile,' lowered his head until he cast his shadow completely over the girl once again. Sheesh, when had it become light all of a sudden? _"I am __large__, thank you very much. If we are finished with the insults it's time to begin and complete the ceremony."_ Jordenn was about to ask what the ceremony was, but the pearls were suddenly moving all around them and Palkia was **shrinking** at an alarming rate! A glowing ball, covered in red chains, appeared without warning in her right hand and a mystical presence seemed to fill her mind. She knew what to do.

Throwing the ball, she watched as it arched towards Palkia and shrouded him in a veil of red light. He appeared to vanish within the red light, leaving only the shaking ball behind. The floating pearls danced all around her slender form, and that of the ball, and the mystical presence within her mind was expanding, stretching. New fear awakened within Jordenn – her mind couldn't contain the presence! It was…too…much! Her mind didn't break though, it too expanded and she became **aware **of Palkia. _"Hello, hello? One, two, three?"_ she tested and felt his amusement in response.

"_Hello, little one. I suppose I should apologize for not warning you, and intruding in your mind, but this way we can communicate instantaneously. Furthermore, I need to tell you that it would be hard to not reveal my presence here in Sinnoh; it's not like the sight of a giant white dragon is common. You may not have recognized me right away, but you were also in a state of shock. Others, such as the enemies we face, will know at once. Arceus has also demanded that we not use our interdimensional powers which will reduce my strength greatly. Thus limited, and to remain unrecognized, I have chosen to assume the form of a Gyarados. Is this not suitable?" _

Jordenn was about to say that _any_ Pokémon not belonging to a member of Team Liberator, and in Celestic Town any that was not a Lickitung, would be noticeable but she held back. A Gyarados, she was pretty sure, was a water type that looked like a dragon. It fit Palkia and would certainly attract less attention than he would in his normal form. Still, she couldn't help messing with him. _"Oh no, it's most definitely not suitable! Are you crazy?!"_ There were disadvantages to telepathic communication and one of them was that he knew she was joking around.

The pearls dropped, splashing the floor with red energy (not blood, she knew that know) and Jordenn blinked to clear the after-effects of the Ceremony of Whirling Pearls and Blinding Light. _"It was called the Render Ceremony actually,"_ Palkia noted dryly.

"_Whatevs."_

…"_Don't dismiss me girl.""Hey, don't bounce my poke ball it's not a toy!""Watch it, I didn't remove the barrier yet!"…_

…"_Jordenn, you stupid human child, are you listening to me? At least you have the common sense to hide me, but that's about all you're getting points for!"…_

"Yeah dad. I hear ya, I just don't care."

Sigh, this was going to be a looooong day.

The wind was cold, and rumors were still carried on its breath. The invitation still sat underneath her lamp which in turn was located on top of her little black desk back home. She couldn't tell the Resistance about this; she couldn't fuel the rebellion with the information of Legendaries stepping in to aid Pokémon and human kind alike as it just would complicate matters. They'd all probably rush in and do something stupid.

That didn't matter. Together they were going to make a difference: an **actual** change. She couldn't wait.

"_Jordenn, get your head out of the clouds!"_

"_Shut up and let me enjoy the damn moment, you girly dragon with your pearls!"_

"_Flat-chested tomboy!"_

"_Oversized hippo with a face only a mother could love!"_

"_Well, my mother created the world, what did your mother do?"_

"_She died trying to help your kind!" …_

"…_I'm sorry, Jordenn. I should have known better."_

"_It's…it's okay. It's just hard, you know? But we are going to make things better…we are!:_

"_And we're not alone."_

(_Thanks for reading guys! I really appreciate it, and reviews too if you can! Please. Alright, Leopardmoon out. I'll try not to drop off of the face of the earth. Hehe._ )


End file.
